The British GENES blog (GEnealogy News and EventS): Top stories concerning British Isles ancestral research from Irish born Scottish based professional family historian, author and tutor Chris Paton. Feel free to quote from this blog, but please credit British GENES if you do so. Should you wish to get in touch, contact me at christopherpaton @ tiscali.co.uk. Happy hunting!

Pages

Saturday, 13 April 2013

Oxfordshire FHS - DNA competition

Wendy Archer, chairman of the Oxfordshire Family History Society (www.ofhs.org.uk), has kindly let me know about the following competition being run by Sue Honore and Richard Merry on behalf of the society:

Oxfordshire DNA project

Are you a member of the OFHS and do you have at least 3 generations of Oxfordshire ancestors going back into the mid-19th century or earlier? We have just launched a new Oxfordshire DNA project and are offering TWO free DNA tests to OFHS members. Why not enter?

All you have to do is submit 400-600 words on why you feel a DNA test would be useful to help you discover more about your Oxfordshire family/families using DNA, including a short summary on your family and your family history 'brick walls'. Send to editor@ofhs.org.uk before 30th May 2013. Terms and conditions are below.

If you are not yet an OFHS member, but have Oxfordshire ancestors and want to enter the competition, then why not join? It's well worth the cost of the membership to have a chance of winning a DNA test. See www.ofhs.org.uk for membership details.

If you have already had a DNA test done at FamilyTreeDNA, and have a long line of Oxfordshire ancestors, then log on to www.familytreedna.com/public/Oxfordshire and request to transfer your results to our project. (All transfers are checked for validity before approval, so membership is not automatic.)

Terms & Conditions of DNA competition:

1. All entrants must be members of the OFHS as of 1 May 2013.
2. Entrants must have at least 3 generations of Oxfordshire ancestors in the 19th century or earlier.
3. The OFHS Executive Committee will pick the two winning entrants. The judges' decision is final and no correspondence can be entered into regarding judging. The judges reserve the right to award one or zero free tests if the quality of entries justifies that action.
4. The competition closes on 30th May 2013 and winners will be notified by 1st July 2013.
5. Winners agree to having their stories publicised by the OFHS. Full test results and ID numbers on the DNA site will not however be released to the public.

(With thanks to Wendy, and good luck to entrants!)

UPDATE: A Canadian reader has been in touch to let me know the result of a query she made to Oxford FHS - namely, what kind of DNA test is available? Here was the response:

Basically we are offering the most suitable test for the winners, within a price range, hence the perhaps vague offer of ‘a DNA test’. It will most likely be a 67 marker Y-DNA or mtDNA HVR1 and HVR2. We will consider a FamilyFinder/autosomal test too if appropriate, but so far are expecting people mostly coming forward for Y-DNA tests.